John howe



UNrrn STATES ATENT Erica.

JOHN HOYVE, OF NEVVHALL, CALIFORNIA.

RAIL-FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 308,771, dated December 2, 1881i Application filed June 13, 1884. (No model.)

To (6 whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN Hows, of Newhall, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Rail-Fastening, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, efficient, and durable fastening to secure railway-rails to the ties or sleepers of the track in a manner to prevent spreading of the rails or the splitting of the ties in laying the rails, and to protect the ties from .cutting wear of the rails by the traffic over the road.

The invention consists in wear-plates interposed between the rails and the ties, and apertured to receive headed spikes and screws at opposite base-flanges of the rails, the heads of the spikes looking over the base-flange of the rail at one side, and lips or shoulders on the spikes locking under the wear-plates on that side when the screws are turned home through their apertures in the wear-plates at the edge of the opposite base-flange of the rail, all as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate correspondingparts in both the figures.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a railway-tie on the irregular line m as, Fig. 2, and a crosssection of the railway-rail, showing my improved rail-fastening applied; and Fig. 2 is a plan view with one of the inside screws in horizontal section taken just below its head.

The letter A indicates a railway-rail at the left-hand side of the track. B is one of the ties or sleepers. O is a metal wear-plate or chair interposed between the rail-base and the tie.

For ordinary railway tracks and traffic the preferred dimensions for the wear-pl ate 0 are fourteen inches long, six to seven inches wide, and about three-eighths of an inch thick; but

the size may vary with the degree of hardness of the tie, a hard-wood tie not requiring so large or thick a wear-plate.

Next to the outside flange, A, of the rail I punch a rectangular hole, D, in the wearplate 0, and about at the transverse center of the plate and tie, and through which hole D I drive the spike E, and next the opposite or inside flange, A of the rail I punch in the plate 0 the two round holes F, through which to turn the screws G down into the tie. The holes F are formed one at either side of the longitudinal center of the wear-plate, so that the heads 6 g of the spike and screws, respectively, take together a triangular hold on the base-flanges of the rail. The spike E has a projecting lip, H, at the back,with a square top or shoulder, h, formed at a distance from the under side of the spike-head 0 corresponding to the thickness of the rail-flange A and the wear-plate C, and the hole D of the wearplate is sufficiently long to permit the body of the spike E with itsli p H to be driven through itinto the tie.

In laying the rails they will be set on the ties B and wear-plates O, and the plates 0 will be set so that the inner ends, (I, of the spike-holes D will lie about in line with the edge of the outside rail-flange,A. The spikes E will now be driven home through the holes D, which will bringthe spike-heads 6 hard upon the rail-flange, and carry the shoulders 71, of the spike-lips H j ust below the lower faces of the wear-plates O. The wear-plates will now be driven inward along the faces of the ties until the outer ends, d, of the slots D come against the spikes E above their shoulders 71, which,while still looking theuails to the wearplates and ties by the spikes, will also look the spikes to place bythe wear-plates, and will also carry the holes F F of the wear-plates into line with the edges of the inside railflanges, A so that the screws G may be entered through holes F and into the ties, and their headsg be turned down upon the flanges A to complete the fastening, as clearly shown in the drawings. Alike fastening will be provided for the right-hand rail of the track.

By the use of my improvement the wearplates not only protect the ties from being cut by the pressure of the rails, but serve also, aided by the weight of and on the rails, to lock the spikes down and prevent them from jarring loose and lifting out of place, and the spikes E cannot be drawn withoutfirstremoving the screws G. The edge of the outside flange, A, coming as it does against the side of the spike E below its head e, and the screws G giving such a firm downward hold on the inside flange, A it will be seen that a spread- IOO 

